


Week By Week

by orphan_account



Category: Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons)
Genre: Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Possible Character Death, Trollhunter Claire Nuñez
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-04
Updated: 2019-02-04
Packaged: 2019-10-22 02:09:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17654018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Twenty-one days, seven hours, and forty-two minutes. That was the exact amount of time that Jim Lake, Jr. had been in the Darklands. Claire had seen him seven days ago, with her brother - Enrique - in his arms and an army of Gumm-Gumms trailing behind him. Claire had been able to get Enrique out of there, but Jim hadn’t been so lucky. He had gotten stuck there, and who knows what Gunmar was doing to him. That was why Claire, Toby, Blinky, Draal, and NotEnrique had all grouped together and stolen the bridge - Killahead Bridge. They needed a Trollhunter to open it but they all hoped that Jim would escape Gunmar and would be able to open the bridge on his end.Those hopes were crushed when Claire got to the bridge twenty-one days, seven hours, and forty-four minutes after Jim had jumped in.





	Week By Week

**Author's Note:**

> i had idea. i wrote idea. here is idea. i have too many ideas. save me.

_.three weeks._

Twenty-one days, seven hours, and forty-two minutes. That was the exact amount of time that Jim Lake, Jr. had been in the Darklands. Claire had seen him seven days ago, with her brother - Enrique - in his arms and an army of Gumm-Gumms trailing behind him. Claire had been able to get Enrique out of there, but Jim hadn’t been so lucky. He had gotten stuck there, and who knows what Gunmar was doing to him. That was why Claire, Toby, Blinky, Draal, and NotEnrique had all grouped together and stolen the bridge - Killahead Bridge. They needed a Trollhunter to open it but they all hoped that Jim would escape Gunmar and would be able to open the bridge on his end.

Those hopes were crushed when Claire got to the bridge twenty-one days, seven hours, and forty-four minutes after Jim had jumped in.

The Amulet of Daylight laid on the ground, glowing bright against the shadows of the trees. A whisper coming from near where it had landed when it had pushed itself away from the bridge’s broken parts. Claire choked back a sob as she made her way towards the glowing amulet - it was calling for a new Trollhunter.

Jim was dead.

“ _Claire Nuñez._ ”

Jim was dead and Claire was to be the next Trollhunter.

“Claire.” Claire had nearly forgotten that Toby had come to the bridge with her. The sound of his voice only made Claire realize that this was all but real - she had even tried to pinch herself, to convince herself that this was all a dream after she heard him speak but that didn’t do anything - and that Jim wasn’t coming back. “It’s calling for you, Claire.” Toby sounded small and sad, like he would break at any moment.

Claire shook her head, backing up, far away from the amulet. “No. No, no, no, no, no.” Claire repeated the one word until she fell onto the hard ground, tears cascading down her face, making the world blurry. It was already hard enough to see as it was. “He’s-” Claire took in a heavy breath, “He’s not dead!” She yelled out. “He can’t be- he-he promised me!” Claire hugged herself, trying to make herself small, to make herself disappear from this nightmare. “He promised me we’d get my brother together,” She whispered to herself. Claire didn’t even care that Enrique was safe in his crib at the house, she just wanted some reason why Jim couldn’t be gone.

 

_.five weeks._

It had been two weeks since they had all found out that Claire was to be the next Trollhunter. Toby had called Blinky, and Draal, down to the portal once the sun had set - the two humans had skipped school, surely mourning over their now dead friend was a good enough reason - to tell them of what had happened. Blinky had looked like he was about to cry, although he had admitted that a troll couldn’t cry. Draal just looked like he wanted to kill Gunmar even more than he already did.

So, Claire had started formally training as a Trollhunter as soon as they had gotten to the Hero's’ Forge. She didn’t wear the armor, she didn’t even want to touch the amulet. The glowing blue amulet rested in her backpack, put there by Toby after she had left it at the bridge, and staying there until Jim came back. Because Jim wa coming back. Claire wouldn’t let him stay in the Darklands forever. She would get Jim back (even if that meant stealing him away from wherever he was now).

There was still one thing bothering Claire; neither her nor Toby had stopped pretending to be Jim while his mother was at the house. Claire had almost given herself away when she found herself looking into the mirror in the bathroom and seeing Jim instead of herself. Just knowing that she won’t (may not) be able to see those blue eyes of his ever again except for when she wore the Glamour Mask was awful. Claire felt as if she was going to shatter into a million pieces.

That was why, an hour after Dr. Lake had gone off to bed, Claire snuck into her room and stole her cell phone. It wasn’t hard to guess Dr. Lake’s passcode (Jim’s birthday, believe it or not) and Claire didn’t have a hard time navigating herself through it. The only thing that Claire hesitated on was the call button. Now that she was actually right about to do it, she felt as if she shouldn’t. That herself and Toby should continue to be Jim, until he got out of the Darklands, at least.

That was why when Claire hit the call button, she closed her eyes.

The ringing gave Claire a sense of dread, and that made her only more likely to press the end button. Claire had made a rule for herself a long time ago, that, if they didn’t pick up within three rings, she would hang up and not let it go to voicemail; they were obviously busy if they didn’t pick up. The phone only rang twice with Claire’s finger hovering over the button.

“ _Barbara! I - um - I wasn’t expecting you to call._ ”

Claire shook her head, even though he couldn’t see it. “Not-Not Dr. Lake. It’s Claire, Claire Nuñez?” She said as if he wouldn’t remember who she was.

“ _What are you doing with Dr. Lake’s phone, Miss Nuñez?_ ”

“I knew she would have your number-”

 _“What need would you have to call your former enemy, Miss Nuñez? I would have been expecting this call from Young Atlas, but not you.”_ Strickler hissed through the phone, making Claire suck in a breath at Jim’s familiar nickname.

“We-we plan on telling her, again,” Claire explained, skipping over the part as to why they were going to tell Dr. Lake. “We thought it would be more believable if you were to actually be here.”

“ _More believable?_ ” Strickler questioned, and it almost seemed as if he had let out a laugh. “ _Just send in a troll!_ ”

“Jim’s in the Darklands,” Claire blurted out, hoping that would make him come back to Arcadia. “Has been since Angor Rot was defeated.”

“ _That was two months ago, how has she not noticed her son missing?_ ”

“Toby and I have been pretending to be Jim, we just can’t keep it up anymore.” If the phone had a cord, Claire would be wrapping it around her finger in nervousness. “Please, come back. I don’t know how’d I explain to Dr. Lake that her son is missing. And I think showing her Blinky and Aaarrrgghh would make her think she was crazy.”

The changeling on the other line was silent for a moment. “ _Give me a week.”_

 

_.six weeks._

Strickler came in through Trollmarket, Gyre being the faster way he could have gotten here other than plane (but booking plane tickets for a week away was hard). The way to the Lake House was quiet, filled with nothing but the two humans’ and changeling’s footsteps. They happened to catch Barbara getting into the house as soon as they got there.

“Claire, Toby,” She greeted the two children but seemed to ignore Strickler, “I’m sure Jim is just up in his room, I’ll go get him for you.” Barbara gave them a small smile.

“That-that won’t be necessary, Dr. L,” Toby explained before she could open the door, “we’re - um - we’re here for you.”

The look of surprise on Barbara’s face slowly shifted to annoyance as she turned to look at Strickler. “Walter,” She started, “please don’t tell me you got children roped into this.”

Toby shook his head. “He didn’t bring us here, we brought him here.”

Barbara shook her head. “Toby, Claire, relationships are a private thing.”

“We’re here to talk about Jim,” Claire blurted out much like she had when she was talking to Strickler over the phone.

“Is he in trouble?”

The answer was hard to say, making Claire swallow back whatever was forming in her throat. “Yeah, Jim’s in some pretty big trouble.” That was an understatement. Jim was (possibly is) dead!

And so, they found themselves sitting on the couch, telling Barbara what Jim had done; what Strickler had done; what Gunmar wanted to do; Toby and Claire’s job in all of this. Barbara almost didn’t seem to believe it until Claire explained that yesterday Jim burnt his omelette for the fourth time that week, because Jim hadn’t been the one to make it and Claire was horrible at making omelettes. Barbara even asked to see the Glamour Mask, making Claire fetch it out of her backpack.

“ _Claire Nuñez._ ”

Claire stopped as her backpack lit up a bright blue - oh how she had grown to hate the colour (thank goodness Jim’s eyes were a darker shade) - from the amulet currently resting in it. Claire, despite being the so called ‘Trollhunter’ for the past two weeks, had yet to touch the amulet; which meant that every once in awhile, it would call her name. Claire chose to ignore it. Today, however, she just couldn’t.

Claire’s backpack flew, hitting the stairs and allowing the amulet to come tumbling out of the small bag. All Claire did was allow the tears to fall, the sound of the amulet calling her name too much for her to handle right now. Not after explaining everything to Barbara.

“Claire-”

“He’s not dead!” Claire yelled out, cutting Barbara off. “He’s just- he can’t be dead!”

Claire bolted out the door, leaving her backpack by the stairs and the amulet on the floor. She couldn’t be away from it for too long, the amulet would find her, but the times she got away from it was better than most. At least then Claire could pretend that the amulet was still attached to the bridge, allowing it to be opened by the Trollhunter when he needed to pass through once more. When Jim needed to pass through the bridge once more, and he would, Claire would make sure of it.

 

_.nine weeks._

Claire stayed away from Barbara after that. And Strickler. And she tried to avoid everyone if she could. But today, today made Claire feel like she needed to do something. Claire wanted to fight Gunmar more than ever today, she wanted to kill him herself. Gunmar hadn’t killed Jim but whatever he had done to make the amulet chose another Trollhunter was bad enough. And, if Claire wanted to kill Gunmar, she needed to be stronger. She had been avoiding training as a proper Trollhunter (wearing the armor, wielding Daylight) since she had gotten the call, but today was going to be the day that changed.

With the Amulet of Daylight in her hand, Claire walked off to go find Draal. Thankfully, she hadn’t needed to look for long for she found him in the first place she looked; the Hero’s Forge.

“Claire,” He greeted as she walked up to him.

Without missing a beat, Claire looked up to the much taller troll. “Teach me how to handle a sword?”

Draal didn’t need much convincing, all he needed to hear was that she wanted to kill Gunmar, for Jim’s sake.

 

. _twelve weeks._

She should have followed him in, somehow. She could have used the fetch, surely she was small enough to squeeze through. Maybe then she wouldn’t be the one training with Draal in the Hero’s Forge. Maybe then Jim would be able to sleep in a proper bed instead of on the cold rock - or whatever it was - of the Darklands.

She shouldn’t have let him go in the first place, used her shadow staff (the weapon long collecting dust under her bed now, it was difficult to use it and the amulet at the same time) to portal into the vault and stop him. Or she could have followed him in, helped him with whatever had made the amulet chose a new Trollhunter. Maybe then she wouldn’t be the one training with Draal in the Hero’s Forge. Maybe then Jim would be able to actually see the sun and not whatever sort of light source there was in the Darklands.

Oh, how she wishes she can go back in time.

She wishes she would have done something, anything.  

 

_.fourteen weeks._

Claire doesn’t want to get out of bed, she feels nothing; empty. But she does, to go to training so that one day, she can defeat Gunmar. She’s not letting that go, Claire will kill Gunmar, for Jim’s sake.

 

_.fifty-eight weeks._

Claire knows he’s not coming back. She knows that nothing’s going to escape the bridge, that’s why whenever she gets a call it’s always a rogue goblin or a gnome infestation.

Claire doesn’t really like the way the armor looks on her, it reminds her too much of that day when she found that the armor wasn’t really a costume. She wears it anyways, it’s better to be protected with armor other than shoulder pads and knee guards. Toby’s even gotten an upgrade from the tray he used to wear.

“Claire!” Blinky yelled out as he raced towards her. “The Hero’s Forge is malfunctioning! We need to turn it off!”

Claire only nods, dons the armor (she had long stopped repeating the phrase, sick of it. Merlin was the one who had put Jim in this war, put her in this war, they shouldn’t be fighting for his glory) and finds the Hero’s Forge in shambles. It seemed as if Toby had tried to do some training on it, only to forget to turn it off properly once he was done - or something of the sort.

The Soothscryer looked threatening, and Claire’s never stuck her hand it to go meet with the Trollhunter Void Council or anything so this would be her first time meeting them. It’s painless but still as frightening as she thought it would be. The ghosts of the past Trollhunters talk to her, about what had happened and how she was the second human Trollhunter. How Claire is just as new to them as they are to her, how she’s new in the case of Trollhunters that they don’t really know much about (she’s pretty sure it’s because she’s the first human female Trollhunter). Basically, stuff Claire doesn’t really care much about.

Claire doesn’t see - or hear - Jim. She can only think it’s because he was killed by Gunmar; all of the Trollhunters who had been slain by Angor Rot hadn’t become a part of the Ghost Council, maybe it was the same with Gunmar. Or maybe it was because he was human; Claire wasn’t a ghost Trollhunter savvy or anything.

 

_.sixty weeks._

“ _Claire, get to the bridge! It’s opening!_ ” Toby yelled through the phone at four in the morning.

Claire didn’t even to really need to say anything to tell him that she’d be there, but she did anyway. “Be there as soon as I can.”

Quickly, she thinks of the shadow staff under her bed. It’s been awhile since she had used it - the last portal she had opened had been when she had been gathering the bridge pieces in the storage container and nearly died with NotEnrique. She didn’t need to think of that right now, she needed to get to the bridge.

How was it even opening? It couldn’t open without a Trollhunter and the only one that was actually alive right now was Claire. Claire shook her head, think about that later, right now gotta get to the bridge.

Using Toby as an emotional anchor, Claire opens a portal - albeit slowly - to the bridge. Stepping through, Trollhunter armor on, Claire is met with an active bridge. Toby, Blinky, and Draal staring at it with weapons (whatever they could find, Toby had his war hammer, Blinky had a bat? And Draal had his fists raised) drawn. Summoning Daylight, Claire gets ready for a fight.

Well, if Claire could summon Daylight, she would be ready for a fight. The sword fails to appear in her hands, leaving her defenseless except for her armor. Until that falls to, the amulet falling to the ground with a thunk before whizzing towards the portal in a flurry of blue light.

They didn’t see who had exited through the bridge until it calmed down, only to see the familiar blue light of the Trollhunter armor Claire had just been wearing. Daylight in his hand as he turns around and takes a swing at the bridge behind him, said bridge crumbling to bits.

He didn’t look like he had aged a day, except for the multitude of scars and bruises that littered every inch of skin they could see. Claire didn’t miss the bags that hung under his eyes, as if he hadn’t slept at all in ages. The way he held onto the sword looked like, if he was strong enough, he could break the handle in half. Almost if, that if he were to let go, that would be the end of it. That had probably been the case.

Jim (Jim was back, Jim was alive. Claire almost didn't believe it but it was him, it was Jim. Right there, right in front of her. Those blue eyes that she thought that she would never see again were staring right at her) gave them a look of relief, the anger and fear that was in his eyes being replaced that something that almost looked calm. “I’m home.”

**Author's Note:**

> so, quick headcanon thingy - the darklands makes it so humans don't age, like, at all. and that they don't need sunlight or else all of those babies would be dead. so, that's why Jim looks the same. idk if i'm gonna write a second part, if i do it's gonna be like a quick explanation to why Claire was chosen as a Trollhunter even though Jim wasn't dead and that's probably it. 
> 
> if i don't write it, the reason why is because the amulet knew that Jim was gonna be in there for a long time so it chose Claire as a sub for until Jim got back. i like to think the amulet is smart enough for that.


End file.
